Abstract: A network interface controller includes a plurality of scatter gather circuits (104a-104d) connectable to a host via a bus (101). A packet buffer (112) is configured for communication with the scatter gather circuits (104a-104d). A plurality of access circuits (110a-110d) are configured to access external network connections. An optional forwarding engine (108) is selectable to generate routing information corresponding to data received via the access circuits (110a-110d) and to provide the routing information to the packet buffer (112).

Abstract: A plurality of direct memory access data transfers are accomplished to transfer data from a host to an adaptor. For each transfer, an indication of locations of at least one group of storage locations associated with the host available to hold the data to be transferred to the host is provided from the host to the adaptor. An indication of the provided indication is maintained, for that transfer, by the host. Based on the indication of locations provided from the host to the adaptor, data is transferred to the at least one group of storage locations from the adaptor. An indication is provided from the adaptor to the host that the data transferring step has been completed with respect to the at least one group of storage locations. The host determines the locations corresponding to the at least one group of storage locations based on the indications maintained by the host and retrieving the data from the at least one group of storage locations based on the determination.